A door opened to the imprisoned Seed in the world,
and the way of freedom by the Spirit of truth, sent into the world in
love to the Sheep that have long been lost.
All men in the fallen state, through sin
and transgression, have that spirit in them, which lusts against God,
and the seed in them, which daily seeks to ensnare their souls further
into wickedness and vanity, and to increase their separation from God,
by drawing in iniquity, and filling the temple, where God should dwell
and be known, with the accursed things which God hates and cannot
behold, for this evil seed being subtle and froward, prevails over them,
and leads out the mind into many several temptations, presenting them
with delight to the carnal part, and outward senses, whereby the Seed of
God becomes vailed, and hid from the creature; so that man knows not
that Word of Life by which he was created, nor can he come to be guided
by it in himself, till the head of this evil seed be bruised, through
believing in the light which comes from the Life, by which the world was
made. And this is that Rock which follows man with its unchangeable
testimony, bearing witness only to that which is of Himself, against all
the ways of that evil Seed, calling and reproving the world because
thereof: which call as many as receive the Word of Life, wherein power
is received to become sons of God; which power of life, as it arises in
the promised Seed, the head of the evil seed is bruised, and he comes to
be brought under, who had taken the soul captive at his will to every
vain and evil work: and so as the creature comes to be redeemed from
under the power of darkness, so he comes to be guided in the light of
that life, by which he was created; and that light which before reproved
him for his deeds of darkness (following him from one to another,
condemning him in all, being turned to by faith and obedience) now
becomes his Leader out of the world, to the Son of God, in whom God's
righteousness is revealed from above to justification: which
righteousness being received and abiding in, sin is remembered no more.
And thus man being changed into that divine nature which changes the
inward man, comes to love that light which before he could not, for no
man can love that which is of God, until he has received God's love.
Now the light of the world, is God's
love to the world; for God so loved the world when it was in the power
of darkness, that He gave His Son into the world, a covenant of light,
that whosoever follows Him should not abide in darkness, but should have
the light of life. Now God's love stands in Christ, the light of the
world; that's His covenant with the world, which whosoever rejects and
receives not, is out of God's love, and in the enmity out of God's
covenant; neither can he in that state believe that God's love is in it.
And this is the cause why men speak evil of the light, who love their
evil deeds, and cannot receive it as God's love, and the way to life, to
such it is condemnation; not that it was intended thereto; but men
loving darkness rather than light, it becomes condemnation: But to him
that believes, and is obedient, to him it is precious; for who follow it
out of the evil world, receive the nature of sons, and the love of the
Father, which the world cannot receive, and the power of godliness, and
treasure of eternal life; and this is not given to any till they come
out of the world, as He is not of the world, for therein stands God's
covenant with Abraham's Seed forever.
So God's love to the world (while men
are in that corrupt nature) and the witness of the Spirit of truth, is
to reprove the world of sin, and testify condemnation against the deeds
thereof; but to such as have received it, it's a Leader, Comforter, and
Savior; and this is the cause why the one loves it, each nature speaking
that state in which it stands towards God, and as it had obtained from
Him in Christ Jesus, love or condemnation; and he that will not receive
God's love that calls him out, must abide under the power of that seed
which God hates; and this is he that seeks to murder him that is in
God's love, the evil one having power to blind that mind, which denies
the light so far, till he cannot see that the murderer is of the devil,
but thinks he is doing God service; and this in the end has ever fallen
such professors as reject the light of the world, for he that walks in
darkness knows not where he goes; but God is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all, nor has darkness any fellowship with Him: Here is known
the children of God, and the children of darkness; he that loves the
light, brings his deeds to the light, and has fellowship with God in his
deeds, and works the work of God; and he that denies the light, works in
darkness, and cannot believe the power that is in the light, being under
the power of darkness.
And therefore he that is born after the
flesh, knows not him that is born after the Spirit of light, nor can
judge of his ways, which are strange, and wonders in his carnal sight,
neither knows he by what power and love that is, by which he overcomes
the world, and takes pleasure in denying the pleasures thereof, and
vanquishes all its vanities out of the heart and mind, and can no more
rejoice in the world, nor make merry with its mirth, but rejoices in the
truth, and is made glad with that which saves him from such folly; the
wicked know not the life of the righteous, nor the spring whence his
virtues arise, nor the power of his change, nor the end of all his
patient sufferings and trials, but stand wondering at it as folly and
madness, that eye being blinded by the god of this world, which should
give the sight thereof, and the soul being in bondage under the prince
of darkness, wherein it cannot inherit immortal treasure. And this must
be, till there be a denying, and coming out of the world, to receive
that inheritance of divine light and understanding, which none can
receive nor be one with, but as they come out of the world, from under
that seed of enmity which seeks to pervert all the right ways of God,
and wrest all His gifts to man's destruction as far as it can prevail.
Now this destroyer, or seed of enmity
against the life of man and his salvation, is kept from that sudden
effecting his purpose upon the creature in whom he is head, by no other
thing but the patience and long-suffering of God, who willing that none
of His creatures should perish, but that if by any means all might
hearken to the truth, and so recover themselves out of the snares out of
this subtle deceiver and be saved: wherefore He does many times long
bear and forbear with much patience, striving by the Spirit of truth
with man, checking and reproving, and warning him even many times, at
that very instant when the act of sin is committing: And if the evil one
have got such power in the creature, that he will not suffer him to mind
reproof before, nor in the act of sin, then afterwards when the heat of
temptation is cooled, then He shows the evil and danger of such
wickedness, that so He might preserve fear in him, against the next
temptation.
And thus (in many) He keeps back
destruction a long time; so that some are long e're the wicked one get
them to fill up their measure: And some in that time of God's patient
forbearing and long-suffering, come to repentance, and turn to that
which reproves, and are saved; and others go on to destruction, which
swiftly they draw upon themselves, after once the Spirit has ceased
striving and reproving; for then the fear is lost, and the evil one has
his liberty at his own will (the creature being given up of the Lord,
and the Spirit of truth being departed from them, being left to deceit,
who have dealt deceitfully with the Spirit of truth,) having only a form
of godliness, without the power; for the power of God is in that Spirit,
and in that life which is known by withstanding the evil one, which is
hid in such in whom death reigns; only such who are born of the Spirit,
have the life and power, and know its strength and virtue unto eternal
salvation; the rest are left to their own thoughts and notions.
And here is the cause of that strong
contention which has ever been between the children of light who are
born of that Spirit of truth, and have their light and strength in the
inward man; and the world's professors, whose expectation stands in
something without them, which others have spoken of, who had it in them.
And so not knowing the power and mystery of the living faith, which is
held in a pure conscience, which only has power to bring out of the
world's darkness, they are kept captive therein, contending against the
spiritual light; and so while they are in the world go about to
comprehend and measure that Spirit of truth, which the world cannot
receive, neither knows, thinking that Spirit of life and light to have
no other operation in such who are led out of the world, and born
thereof, and in whom Christ lives, then they find it to have in
themselves, who stumble at it, and are disobedient and unbelieving in
heart; whereas indeed to us that believe, it is elect and precious who
come to it for all supplies; but to the wisdom and profession of the
world, it is a Rock of offence, and stumbling-stone, yet is it the Head
of the corner; and in them who revile it and reject it, it is become all
they have in them that is good, true and faithful towards God, or their
souls, as their hearts in secret do witness to them, and leaves them
without excuse many times.
For even they that reject this light and
Spirit, have nothing else that can show them so much as one of their
thoughts, or divide to their understanding the evil from the good,
either in thought, word, or action, or that can really show them what is
of God really, and what is of him, who does but show himself to be God
to deceive with, and is not; nor without it can they perceive the
several motions of every several spirit that is in them, to receive the
good, and deny the bad; nor can they know the several roots of life and
death, which plant to pluck up, and which to feed on; and how can such
labor in God's vineyard? And indeed, without obeying this light the body
is a house of darkness, and a habitation of every deceitful spirit, and
the heart desperately wicked, and no man knows it, but he in whom the
light of truth shines; and He that declares to man his thoughts, His
name is the Lord of hosts. Thus is He the Head of the corner, which the
stumbler cannot comprehend to his wit, and so rejects Him, without whom
there is no building, nor working the work of God.
And therefore, you sons of the darkness
of this world, mind in yourselves what it is you set yourselves against;
is it not that light which would limit and chain the evil one in you,
that which condemns you for every evil work, secret and open, which will
not let you be proud and wanton, and lustful? That which in your own
heart testifies against you for deceit and falsehood towards God; and
towards men, deceit in religion, hypocrisy and falsehood, making a form
of what you are not? Deceit in your dealings with men, in your tradings
and speakings, and several actions, both as rulers, priests and people,
without respect of persons, nor any other thing, but has respect only to
that of God in you, which is of His nature, given to you to guide man in
the light of God, out of all the ways of the deceiving spirit?
And now he that comes to you with this
doctrine, comes near you, being manifest in spirit to that of God in
your hearts, you are pricked therewith, and then the evil one is stirred
up within you, to fight against that which is truth in yourselves, and
answers to the truth which is spoken to you, by another without you,
from the same Spirit of truth, which by you is rejected; And thus you
joining with him that rises up in wrath against the truth in yourselves,
and denying that which should chain and bind the evil one, you deny the
Lord of life, and give strength to the evil one to crucify the Just in
you, and quench the Spirit of truth, and weary the Lord with striving,
till you be given up wholly to the power of darkness, who will then keep
you seeking salvation without, while he is heaping up evil within.
For that which seeks to devour your
souls is within you, while he is leading you out to seek salvation; and
that which condemns you, is in you; sin is within before it be acted, so
must salvation be within before you be cleansed; though the old deceiver
has taught people to think they are saved by believing God only at a
distance, who neither know or worship Him in the Spirit and truth, nor
are their bodies His temples, nor can the Holy One dwell or walk in
them, because of uncleanness, but their vessels being filled with the
power of darkness, and the heavenly place with spiritual wickedness, has
caused God to depart from the children of men for this uncleanness; and
yet the liar speaks peace, and preaches salvation, and the creature
believes so, being filled with darkness: But the children of light
receive not this doctrine, who see and feel, and cannot contend with
words, but with power. A talk of God satisfies not the soul of a good
man, till he feel His Presence and power; God only without, and the
devil within, is not the Saint's faith nor salvation; but God in them,
and the devil cast out, is their glory and strength, and they are bold
through the might of His Spirit in them, to war daily against the prince
of this world, because they know Him who is greater in them, than he
that is in the world. And this is the faith that overcomes the world;
and he that's born of the Spirit, has the Father and the Son, and he
that has the devil is His enemy, and knows Him not whence He is, but
judge Him after the flesh and outward appearance; but the child of light
wars not after the flesh, but after God, that He alone may have the
glory, who is all in them that they have to glory in, who gives their
souls the holy victory.
And now, were you not wholly blind in
your minds, and past feeling, you could never sit down so bespotted, as
to believe you are saved, while you are daily captivated in sin, and led
many times to do that which you know you should not, and this by the
power of lust in you, enticing and leading you into every temptation,
and causing you to fall into many hurtful evils, which gather strength
and rooting daily in you, heaping up wrath and vengeance, by adding sin
to sin, which must all be accounted for in the end thereof, when you
have filled your vessels to a full measure: And can you say you are
redeemed from the devil, while he has this power in you, that you are
not able to resist him, but are led captive at his will, contrary to all
fear of God, or power of righteousness? Are your bodies redeemed to God,
and are your members of Christ, while you yield your members to
unrighteousness? Or, are you saved who are servants of sin? In what
stands the life and power of your redemption, of your faith, and of your
salvation, seeing nothing can stand with God but that which brings forth
to Him? Is not he in the bonds of iniquity, who is bound to bring forth
iniquity? Is not he a servant of sin, in whom it reigns? Is not he the
child of bondage, which is bound to bring forth what the evil one begets
in him, and serve him in what he moves him to? Mind this, you who are
born after the fleshly spirit, who act according to his will, who works
in your flesh to bring forth death. Does your profession save you, who
are not turned from dead works? The foundation of repentance is not yet
laid in you, and therefore death reigns over you, contrary to the life
that should bring forth to God; and this is the servant of sin's state,
and spirit of bondage, and not the Heirs state, who inherits God's
righteousness, and brings forth thereof to that Spirit which pleases
God, as you bring forth to the flesh, and please the world: And these
two seeds are within, and are at enmity and disagreement, and there can
be no concord between them, no more than between light and darkness; and
their several fruits are made manifest with the light, which condemns
the one, and confesses the other to be of God, and wrought in God.
As many as are quickened with the Spirit
of life, have the feeling of this before they bring forth the fruits
thereof into the world, and are come to the discerning of things that
differ in nature and effect, by the tasting and handling of the Word of
Life, and knowledge of that election which was before the world was, by
which they are made able to judge the ground and end of every motion in
them, or to them; which abiding in, they need not man to teach them,
neither can they be deceived; which makes them with boldness bring forth
openly such words and works as are begotten in them by the Word of Life,
which shows the whole world to lie in wickedness, and makes it manifest
in the light of life, by whom the prince of this world is judged and
condemned, and the secrets of the hearts made manifest, according to the
nature of every several spirit which comes up to the day of the Lord's
appearance. And to this Spirit of truth must an account be given by all
flesh living; for this is He that lives to all generations, and is
unchangeable in His witness against the evil seed, into whatever form he
transforms himself, in words and profession; yet is there no agreement
between their several natures, be they in one person, or be they in a
family, or be they in a nation, there is not agreement; nor can any one
person, family or nation serve them both; but whoever serves the one,
hates the other, and condemns him: So he that serves deceit, condemns
the Just, and so condemns that which should save him, and must judge him
in the end. And here is the cause of that fleshly liberty which some
have got (for the present) where the Witness is slain; and also of the
horror of conscience, where the Just appears toward judgment; the
unstable estate of such who are not faithful: but the everlasting peace
and power in such where the Just has dominion, and the present sorrows
of such who are diligent in waiting and wrestling to the end of the
world, from the beginning of the work of Christ Jesus, through faith and
patience; And all these are comprehended with him who has learned
Christ, by being faithful to that Spirit of truth, sent in His name, to
testify what is of Him in every vessel, and what is of the spirit that
lusts against Him, and keeps the creation in bondage.
And this is that one way to life and
salvation, held forth freely by the Spirit of truth, sent forth by the
Father in the name of Christ Jesus, who has its several operations in
several vessels, according as He finds them towards God; in some a
perfect Justifier in the sight of God presenting them, who also gives
several gifts, and power to such as receive this testimony of Jesus
Christ; yet is He but one in all, unchangeably just, equal and holy, who
by the power of His word changes all things that are changeable, and
brings all things to the beginning, before people, nations and tongues
were divided, where man lives by the Spirit of a pure life.
Now all that desire to be set free from
this bondage before-mentioned, and from that law of sin and death that
has its strength in the fleshly part, diligently mind to feel in
yourselves, as follows.
The Spirit of life which is in Christ
Jesus, by whom the world was made in the beginning, has a law that is
spiritual, proceeding from Himself; which law gives light in spirit to
good and bad, testifying against the power of sin and death; which
light, as many as receive by faith and obedience, are brought thereby
under the law of life, which whoever is faithful in, are led in such
ways, whereby that part in man in which the law of sin has its power, is
crucified and slain, and the Seed of the covenant thereby comes into
dominion; for by the man of sin the soul is kept in bondage, while the
strong man keeps the house, whose strength is in such things as the
carnal mind takes pleasure in; which things the law of the Spirit calls
them from, who mind it in the light thereof, and leads to exercise the
mind in spiritual things, and to feed on the Word of life, whereby the
inward man is strengthened, and made to grow up in the stature of a
spiritual man, filled thereby with spiritual power, life and virtue, to
bring forth fruit to God, and to live to Him, as the other lived to the
flesh and brought forth to death.
Thus the Spirit of life draws with
light, and says, come, to all that mind its voice; and as many as obey,
He changes and feeds with the new life, whereby they become new
creatures, born of the Spirit: And the fleshly spirit it draws, and
says, come, holding forth visible idols to take the carnal affections,
and to captivate the mind from the Spirit of life into carnal objects,
who promise much to the eye of earthly wisdom, and have a likeness of a
substance in them, but the end is death, and their whole life is in
captivity to vanity, and separation from God: And here are the children
of freedom, which are in Christ Jesus, made manifest to the world, by
their coming out of it; and the children of bondage manifest, who cannot
deny to serve it; and between these two is no agreement: For he that is
a servant of sin, is free from righteousness, and the servant of
righteousness is free from sin; and as he that is in the flesh cannot
please God, neither can he that is in the Spirit please the world: These
are children of several kingdoms, and several natures: And he that’s
born again after the spirit of life, is brought into the restoration, as
in the beginning, and brings forth to God the fruits of eternal life and
salvation in the creation.
And as by the creatures yielding and
consenting to the subtle one, the life is lost, and the evil seed gets
strength in man to rule and bring forth after the power of darkness; so
by the creatures believing in the light, and by yielding to the motions
of the life of holiness, and the law thereof, comes the evil seed to
lose its strength and feeding, which is upon carnal things; and that
life which is by faith comes again to be renewed in the vessel, and
arises through the Spirit, and reigns above death; and the righteousness
and virtue of that life is not of the nature of flesh and blood, but of
God; and is made manifest in the earthen vessel, by the life and power
of the Spirit, against the will of the flesh, and the lusts thereof: And
thus comes man again into the restoration and redemption of the body,
into the free service of that Spirit and life, of whom he is the
off-spring, and for which, and by which he came into the world; and here
is true reconciliation and peace with God, and no condemnation, but
unity in the Spirit and life as the Father and Son are one, the lust
being slain, the enticer denied, and the accuser cast out, and all
things become new, and all things of God; here is no more the house of
bondage to sin, but the glorious liberty of the sons of God; that nature
being quickened that is spiritual, it does not feed on carnal pleasures,
but upon God; so the inward man becomes a natural branch of the holy
root, and a plant of the living God, bringing out freely what the root
sends forth, in which God is glorified, and the vessel made honorable,
and the soul filled with peace and fatness, and has no more sorrow and
death to oppress it; And the light and life which is in Christ Jesus,
manifest in the Spirit of truth, is the first and last in this work; and
here is seen how unnatural man, driven from God, is become to that pure
life which gives him breath and being, and would preserve him from
becoming contrary to it, in nature and judgment, that of all things in
the world it's the greatest cross to be guided by that light which
arises in him from that holy life, and daily calls him in Spirit
thereinto, being degenerated into a contrary nature, more subtle and
selfish, is willing to join to the enemy thereof in any way against the
pure light that’s in himself, to revile, reproach, murder, and turn it
into darkness, by covering it with deceit; though man in this state has
nothing in him but it, that is of the nature of God, holy and just, or
that will call him from the paths of the destroyer, into the way of
life, or bring forth through him any fruits of obedience, or spiritual
worship that God will own; nor has he any other thing in this world that
is always present with him, to give him to see when he is enticed with
his lust, and tempted to sin, nor the way how to escape the temptation;
yet is man so exalted in the contrary nature, that he has forgotten his
Creator, and lifts up the heel against the reproof of His Spirit,
trampling upon the lowly motions of the Holy One, and the law which out
of His mouth proceeds, counting the light and virtue of His life to be a
low and contemptible thing, not able to save. Thus does lost man daily
despise the spirit of grace and truth in the inward parts, and resists
the Holy Ghost against their own souls, and denies His pure and single
eye, and holy movings by which the holy men of God spoke, saw and
discerned in all ages, as the Scriptures do testify; all which is lost
as to that man who is exalted above the pure light and lowly Spirit, in
which God meets man to teach him the knowledge of the truth.
And therefore you teachers and people of
all sorts and sects, who so violently have set yourselves against the
light of the Spirit within you, and within others, when it calls to you
for a return to it; How long will you kick against that which pricks you
at the heart for your contrary walkings, and dissembling professions?
Why will you not be still and commune with it in your own hearts, that
you might come to a true feeling, and discern what nature it is of, and
from where it is, and what way it works, and against what? And also what
nature that is in you, which it chiefly condemns and works against, and
from where that is? That so with the light of truth you might come to
judge things that differ in the ground, and in the end, that you might
so come to walk in the light, in judgment, and in truth of heart towards
God and man. And let the single truth of God without mixture answer
these things following feelingly in you.
What is the cause that while you are
professing to seek God and serve Him, you should be so unwilling to
serve Him in that which is of His own nature, and to worship Him in
Spirit and in truth, in your own vessels, whose bodies should be the
temples of God, who is not worshiped in temples made with hands, nor in
a nature contrary to Himself? Or will the talking of what His is or was
in others, in whom He was known to walk and speak, deliver your souls
from the power of the prince of darkness and deceit, that is in
yourselves, unless you can by faith receive Him in you also, as they
received Him, and feel His power overcoming and casting out him that has
you captive at his will, against your faith and conscience? Or, will God
be found in you, or accept your worship, while His temple is possessed
with His enemy, and a contrary nature acts you therein? Can you meet
with God in anything but that which is holy, who hears not the prayer of
him that regards iniquity?
Wherefore your first work should be to
know Him in you whom God accepts, for He alone must present you to the
Father, who appears without sin; understand what I say, He that appears
without sin, else you are reprobate in God’s sight; there is no hope
without knowing Christ in you the everlasting Priest, to offer up upon
the altar of atonement. Holiness must make one in Spirit; though by the
height of your minds, He that is without sin be low and little in you,
yet without Me you can do nothing, says Christ Jesus, mind what He says,
you can do nothing: Then what are you doing who are not in the Holy
Spirit? Can you worship by tradition, or be saved by the letter? Will
you make Christ a liar, which says, Without me you can do nothing? I am
the light of the world; every branch (says Christ) that abides not in
me, is cast out, and withers, and is for the fire. Mind this, you that
reject holiness in Spirit, and light, from the Holy Spirit in you: Are
you not cut off, who are not in that which is holy; are you not withered
and for the fire? Are you not cast out, who have no abiding place in
that which is holy? Have you power and knowledge in you to do evil, but
not to do well? Are you not cut off from the true vine, and planted into
a wild vine of a contrary nature? Your corrupt tree is known by its
fruits, which brings forth, but not to God, nor from God, who are cut
off and withered, without Christ and without God in the world, who would
teach you and make you free; here is your loss and nakedness manifest,
and the short bed, and the short garment, who have not the Holy Spirit
to cover you nor bear you harmless. VNow, will you say, you hope you are
born again of the Spirit, and are baptized into the Spirit, and walk in
the Spirit, and worship in the Spirit, and then are gone out for
salvation and light, and speak evil of that light within, as not able to
bear you up against him that is of the world? Now your hope is not an
anchor, nor your faith in that which overcomes the world, as the Saints
do, Whosoever is born of God, overcomes the world: And, he that is
begotten of God, keeps himself, that the evil-one touches him not.
Now mind, where is he that keeps
himself? And where is the evil-one? Let truth answer in you, if there be
any knowledge of God in the house. Is not that He who gives you light,
that would keep you from the evil-one? And should you not be one in Him
that would keep you from evil? Who is your Keeper? You watchmen that are
blind, do not you watch in vain, who know not the Lord to keep your
city, else how should the evil-one have his liberty in and out without a
powerful resisting? Consider in yourselves, where is He that gives you
to see when the evil-one touches you, and when he tempts and touches
not? What nature is He of that does this for you? And where is He? Is He
not light and understanding, and is He not in you? And is He not of a
contrary nature to the evil-one that tempts? And does He not show you
the temptation, before you consent thereto (if you mind Him?) Then what
is the cause that the evil is committed, seeing the light appears
against him? Is it not because you join to the evil-one, and like his
motion better than His that testifies it to be evil. And so you deny the
Holy One and the Just, and become one with the evil-one; and then you
say, The light is not able, when you have denied it, and have not been
faithful to join to it in counsel and strength, but have given your
strength to the contrary; but they that are born of it, do not so; but
when they are showed the evil-one and his temptation, be it whatever it
be to, or under what pretence soever, if the light testifies against it,
then is their diligence, watchfulness and sobriety, used against it in
the fear of God, lest they should be drawn from the light and enticed;
and with all their power they join in obedience to the way of the light,
so that there is a war and wrestling e’re the thing be over; and being
resisted steadfast in the faith, he flees, and the glory returns to God
who dwells in the light. And if at anytime the evil-one prevail, the
creature comes to see the cause to be in himself, and not in God, and
for it is humbled and warned; and this he comes to see when the
temptation is over, and the enemy fled, and he is come again into
coolness with God in the light, which while the darkness was up, and the
enemy in the house, he saw not.
And thus is experience gained through
tribulations and trials, which they who endure not, come not to learn of
God, but fall under temptation to evil, through unfaithfulness to the
light, and so are captives at his will who tempts to evil, and the enemy
of all righteousness reigns over all the members, leading out the eyes,
ears, hands and heart to iniquity and vanity, and the tongue to plead
for it, against every reproof; having denied the reproof of the Spirit
of truth within yourselves, it cannot be received from others, for in
that house the contrary spirit wholly reigns, which turns away the ear
from hearing of knowledge, and the heart from good understanding in the
Spirit.
And this is the cause why you are kept
without the feeling of God and His power, and knowledge of His word, and
the mysteries of His powerful counsel are hidden from you, which He
reveals to the faithful, who have overcome through faith and patience,
in whom satan is subdued and trodden under foot; for in whom this
devourer is above, whatever God gives or reveals to the creature, the
devourer is ready to pervert it quite to a contrary end, that God never
intended in the giving thereof, and to lift up a wrong nature, and exalt
a contrary spirit, which God hates, and this is evident by the light of
truth throughout the world. What are the gifts of God which the spirit
of the world abuses not? If God gives wealth, where that spirit is
above, how is the creature puffed up therewith above the rest of his
brethren, as though he were no more of the same mould and blood, but as
God would he be worshipped; If He gives beauty, it’s turned into lust,
pride and wantonness, begetting and deceiving adulterous eyes; Wisdom is
turned into folly and wickedness, scorning the simple, and over-reaching
the plain-hearted, and such as have most of it, are but most able to
compass their corrupt ends; When God gives grace, it’s turned into
lasciviousness, and God’s long forbearance into hardness of heart;
Religion and profession into a cloak for sin and hypocrisy; fasting and
praying, to accomplish mens self-ends against such as they would swallow
up, &c.
And not one thing that God can give,
which this evil one will not subvert and turn against the Giver, so that
though God be free in Himself, and good and plentiful in mercy, yet He
does not show Himself to such in whom the strong man keeps the house,
who makes the creature thereby but more wanton to kick against his
Creator, and puffs him up to forget his Maker and Feeder; and so a
fruitful land makes he barren, for the wickedness of them that dwell
therein, which from the beginning was not so.
Neither is it so with the children of
light and counsel; who have the Giver in their hearts above the gift,
where the pure counsel sits to order the gifts, where every good and
perfect gift is brought forth in its own nature, form, and manner;
undefiled, or disfigured with the spirit of the world; but the springs
run forth from the clean Fountain, and the plant and fruit is holy like
the root, where the Spirit is clean, and the flesh undefiled, and
everything as it comes from God, as in the beginning, and the old man
put off, and all things of God; there every gift of God is known by its
fruits, and nature, and ends, in such vessels; The gifts of God return
to God by glorifying Him here on earth, where riches bring forth good
and merciful works, and not pride and vain-glory; Wisdom stands up
against oppression, and not to deceive; and through grace does
righteousness reign unto life eternal; their religion is pure, and
unmixed with the world, but separated from it, whereby the sons and
daughters of God are known in the streets, by His virtue and comeliness
put upon them by Him, with which they are covered over, as a garment,
even with all the fruits of the Holy Spirit of faith and truth, which is
in Christ Jesus, who is Lord over all in such vessels; and these are the
vessels of honor fit for the Lord to shine through against His adversary
(the world’s spirit) in fruits that cannot be condemned, being not
defiled in the vessel, but manifest as they come from above, answering
to that of God in every heart, in which the evil one has neither part or
power; these are sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of an unclean
generation shining as lights; and this alone honors God, which is of
God; and this answers the end of man’s creation, and God’s bounty,
who is rich in such, till they come to be filled with all the fullness
of God, which He withholds not from such; but from the unclean and
slothful, such who defile the flesh with lusts, from such He withholds
His riches and fullness; therefore the world knows not the sons of God,
nor whence they are, nor wither they return, who follow Christ out of
the world, never returning there again, but to testify against it, whose
vessels are no more filled with lust, and the spirit of this world to
bring forth thereto, but are filled with the Holy Ghost, who has made
them new creatures for Himself to walk in, and shine forth in fruits of
the Spirit.
And now you wild colts, and barren
earthly minded professors, who have filled your vessels with wantonness
and deceit, and all sorts of fleshly minds; in vain do you hunt about
with your old bottles, and think to retain the heavenly treasure, you
gad about, but to no purpose in the sight and esteem of God, for you are
in the wrong work, while you are in the world’s nature; and in the old
creation; your words and ordinances are empty of the Life of God, and
His fruits you cannot bring forth nor receive, till you be renewed;
nothing you can do will avail you but a new creature; your old vessels
are full of the old wine from the wild grape; and that’s above in you
which defiles the pure conscience, so God withholds His gifts from you,
which abound in His new creation, and you know nothing of it but what
condemns you; so you fight against it, and say, there is nothing now
perfect, and so would condemn the new with the old, and judge them
alike; and thus you err, not knowing the gift of God, nor the works of
His hands, which are all perfect, who walks not in the defiled temple,
nor lies in the bosom of harlots, who are out of His power and perfect
way of a holy life; Therefore
Your work would profit you most, to take
the candle of truth, and sweep the house at home, and cast out the old
leaven, and whatever is of the world, and wait in that which works in
Spirit against the old, till therewith all be made new; and the new
vessel which will not receive the old, nor mix with it: that is it which
will hold the new, which God will fill with Himself; there the Seed may
spring and not be hindered, and the lily grow without being choked;
There the Lamb may be safe from the fox, and the pure from pollution;
which can never be, while your covetous, proud, lustful, earthly minds
are alive in you, or ought that therewith you have treasured in, or
grows up in that ground, the Plant of God is more pure and tender than
to grow amidst such pollution. So to judgment you must first come, and
own your condemnation upon the old, before you can receive of the new,
or it grow in you. What agreement has the spirit of meekness with the
spirit of pride? Contentedness with covetousness? Holiness with lust?
Christ with Belial? Light with darkness? Read and understand, here is
the cause why you have sought and labored many years, and many of you
further off then at first, but none have found freedom indeed, nor that
rest where the thief and unclean come not to devour. Consider these
things while they are near you, lest your hearts harden in you through
unbelief, and the deceit of lusts: And if you will come, then refuse not
Him that calls and gives you light in the dark, but faithfully manage
the watch and the war on His behalf with all your power, till all be
brought under His feet, which He testifies against in you, and do not
answer the truth (when He calls) with deceit and excuses, lest He turn
away from you, and call others more worthy. If you say the world holds
you back, then it’s time you should not delay to break those bonds
that are grown so strong already, they will be stronger everyday, and
what will the end be? Consider and understand like men, and say not, you
have not strength, but turn with that strength with which you have long
served the world, and you will find God (that gave it you) the better
Master; and the Redeemer is served with less vigor than the spirit of
bondage; and do but faithfully give the strength you have of God to the
service of God in the light, and He requires no more than He gives;
it’s deceit that makes these excuses, and not a willing mind; and were
you in the fear of God, these words you would not utter against
yourselves a witness; for these are not the words of the children of
love, nor obedient servants, but of such as are without.
Therefore in truth of heart consider,
what state you are in, and who is your Father; and has power in you, who
thus speak; Can you do evil with both hands, live to your lusts, serve
the world, and compass the earth for your profits and pleasures, with
power, wisdom, and delight; and have you not power to do well? Now
should you see your strong captivity, and how you are degenerated from
God, and the end of your creation, with your whole strength, and become
altogether reprobate to God’s service; and for this should your hearts
be smitten with sorrow, did you love God or His true worship, and that
evil tongue you would bridle, and your eyes you would limit from vanity,
your ears from pleasure, and your hearts from deceit, that so you might
only hearken to the light, if by any means you might come to hear the
voice of Him that’s sent into the world; to call you from under the
power of satan unto the living God, by preaching light to you who sit in
darkness, and are dead while you live; neither can you be quickened till
you hear the voice of the Son of God, which the deceiver keeps you from
in your worldly pleasures, long prayers, and a lying profession, taking
the Saints words to cover you from true judgment, but have not their
Spirit nor power to live their lives; nor are you plants of that Root
and Nature which brings forth to God, as He is, in whom there is no
change: And this is not the sacrifice that God accepts, which is brought
in the unclean vessel without His power and renewed strength.
Wherefore that nature which is become so
wholly unprofitable, should be denied its will, and its way stopped; and
to that seed you should die which rules in that strength you have, and
runs to and fro to seek for itself, but seeks not God first; and to that
which is pure must you turn, and therein wait for the Anointing, and the
rising of the Holy Seed; for it’s the most holy that’s anointed to
rule in you, e’re you can know Christ in you; and without Christ you
can do nothing; and that seed which is neither willing or able, is not
He, but is the seed of the evil-doer, as is manifest by his fruits,
which must be denied, his thoughts, his words, his profession, his
prayers, his lusts, his sin, and his righteousness, for it’s all of
one nature, and stands up in you to withstand the coming of the Seed of
the covenant, Christ Jesus the Life of God, and Light of men, which has
God’s power which was in the beginning, God’s righteousness, and is
to all generations; whom the heavens must receive until the end of all
these things, and the restitution of the creation of God, till which you
cannot know His appearance in you without sin, who died for sin.
Whose light (as is before declared)
shows you His law, and the Spirit of prophecy testifies of Him to come,
whose way before His face must be prepared (if you have ears to hear and
understand;) and all your crooked, untoward wanton ways must be made
straight, and your hidden subtle ways made plain; and the refiners fire
must pass through your house, and take hold on all that will burn, till
it be consumed, for till the filth be purged out, and an end made of
sin, God dwells not in His temple, nor is everlasting righteousness
brought in for an inheritance to eternal life.
And here you will come to learn the
first principle of pure religion and the doctrine of the beginning of
Christ, and the foundation of repentance from dead works laid in you,
then will you see what kind of treasure your wanton careless minds have
treasured up in your vessels, and your deceitful and unprofitable words
and works, you will then see, by that which will not lie; then will you
find that all will fail but truth; and what you have gathered by craft
and deceit, will stand in no stead, but will deceive you: Truth in the
inward parts must be your stay, if any of you find, for to that Rock you
will be forced to flee, in the end for refuge, when all else is weighed
and found too light to abide the trial, though now it be lightly
esteemed, and you say it's not able to save; it's that light within that
must give you the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus, nothing without
will make your peace, but that which works in you, that must cleanse the
house of your adversary, and ordain peace for you.
And this is that which made the holy men
of God, who have gone before you in this regeneration, to preserve a
clean house and a pure conscience, above all that the world can afford
or promise, knowing that in the day of trial all will prove a lie, but
what is truth in the inward parts; and that none are true worshippers,
but who worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth: and the whole
mystery of faith and of godliness is learned within, and held in that
which is pure; and the pure in heart see God, and have heard and learned
of Him; and such are sons indeed, who are born of the Spirit, and led by
the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit; and these have power, light and
understanding to do well, and have that of God in them, which is holy,
and that Spirit which the devil is not able to resist; and every child
of God has this in their measure, by which they resist the world and
overcome it, even that which is born of God; that only overcomes, which
is faithful and will not forget himself: Blessed only are they who have
of this in them in the evil times, which God cannot forget, nor suffer
to be tempted above measure, such only have that election, for whose
sake the spirit (or soul) is saved: And in this only does the creature
find favor in the sight of God in the day of vengeance, when God arises
to plead with all the earth for their wickedness; a Seed shall be saved,
but that is not it which says and does not.
And therefore think of this, all you who
mock at a pure conscience, and reject that of God within, and speak
lightly and reproachfully of it; did you know whom you reproach, and
against what it is you sport yourselves, you would rather gnaw your
tongues than utter a word against it; you would change your minds, and
seek it with those that sell all, that they may find it; though it be
little in you, (as to you) so that you dare not trust to it, yet all
that have proved it, prize it as the great power of God to salvation;
and whether you can receive it or no, you have no election but what is
in it: In this did Noah find grace in the sight of God, when the earth
was corrupted; and Noah walked with God, and was just and perfect in his
generation, and in that which was just and perfect he was saved; and in
the righteous Seed which was grieved with the uncleanness of Sodom, was
Lot saved. Now if you can read your election you may, it's only that
which was before sin was, that is grieved at sin, and testifies in man
against uncleanness; and this Seed stands elect before the world was, if
you can receive it, and make it sure, you may, but you which say, you
have not power to do well, and deny His call, cannot do it.
He that calls out of sin, and the soul
that is vexed because of sin, is little and lowly in you; but the god of
this world is lofty, strong and powerful in you, and has lifted up your
hearts on high, to seek great things far above that pure principle of
true light and understanding, which God has chosen and elected to
Himself, and wherein He will commune with man, and teach him His fear
and knowledge, and give him renewed strength, and of His spiritual
power, and salvation from sin.
And now your lofty looks are too high
for this door, and the day of this small and simple one you despise;
these waters are too still for you to drink on, and to stay and wait for
great things where so little is seen, you have not faith; so you out-run
your rest, and the poor in spirit take the kingdom before you, to whom
the election and blessing belong.
Now consider, you that are lofty, rich
and high-minded, mind the calling of God and His election; has He
elected the rich in notion, and high in profession, the proud and the
wanton? Has not He chosen the weak and poor, foolish and contemptible to
confound all this? But He does not confound the election, the poor,
lowly and meek; the pure and holy in heart and soul He does not confound
nor shut out, but He that is pure, meek, and holy, calls; and the soul
that is meek, lowly, and loves holiness, it answers in all conversation,
obtaining grace to be holy, as He that calls is holy. Here is the
calling made sure, and the election by answering thereto, who keeps in
the call, and in the election, which was in God before transgression
was; But you that deny Him that calls you out of darkness into light, by
the power of His holiness, lowliness, meekness and truth, manifest in
spirit in you, according to the gift of God in His tender mercy, by
which this springs from above, as was in the beginning; I say, you that
reject this, to lay hold on something that is set up without you since
the beginning, you deny your calling and election, and betake yourselves
to a changeable thing, which the election is not, nor He that calls
thereto: for the election has been preserved in God, when all the world
else, professions and people have been deceived, defiled, destroyed and
changed. And that is it which is always pure (as God is pure) and
changes not; and he that goes out from this, does not make it sure to
himself, by well-doing; For the election is in the light and power of
holiness, and truth, which they that say and do not, are out of.
Therefore return from off the mountains,
you that have lifted yourselves up on high without God, who have a form
without the power of God, and feel after that which is pure, lowly and
just in you, for God is a Spirit, and in the Spirit and truth is He
known and served, and there is His counsel received, in that which is
truth in your inward parts: feel that which never sinned near you, then
you draw near to God in spirit, and keep there, and wait and hearken
(what the Spirit says, which never sinned) with that principle in you
which would not sin, with that wait upon the Holy Spirit, and mind His
motion continually, and be obedient thereto, that you may once come to
serve the living and not the dead, that you may be able to say, your
Redeemer lives, and that you know Him, and have heard His voice that is
holy, as God is holy, that is lowly and meek; and that you have learned,
and do always learn of Him, and are joined to Him, that you may become
conformable to Him that lives and sins not: and this appearance will be
your daily salvation and peace, and daily growth and increase in God,
and make this sure to you in that principle which would not sin for
gaining the whole world; so shall you not lose your election nor your
calling, but an entrance thereby will be daily ministered into the
kingdom everlasting, which is in Christ Jesus the Light, and Truth, and
Power of God.
But if you go out to any other thing for
help or counsel, then that Spirit which is pure, which is just, which is
meek and lowly as God is, which is righteous by nature, and springs in
you to bring forth fruit of itself, to God alone, in that principle
which is pure and clean, then you go from the fountain of living waters
to dig for yourselves, and into your own works, and what you bring forth
is your own righteousness, and not that which is revealed from above, to
all generations of God elected; And you will go through your work hard
bestead, and when you have brought it forth, it will not satisfy that in
you which hungers toward God, only it will puff up that nature which is
selfish, and exalt that which is too high already to receive life from
God; and this righteousness God accepts not, nor is it everlasting to
all generations, which is brought in by works and not by virtue of the
divine nature springing freely in you from an eternal Spirit, which
those who are entered into rest, and keep the Sabbath holy, are freely
fed with, and covered over, who are ceased from their own works, their
works being wrought in God, and in Him are brought to light, where the
Holy Child is born, and the Son of God manifest, through that Spirit
which the world neither sees nor knows, which gives to see and inherit
God and godliness in a clean nature and vessel.
Which birth if you desire to be born of,
then cease from flesh and blood, and whatever that can do for you within
and without, that is defiled; and in that which calls and convinces you
of sin, wait and be faithful, till you find a life and desire quickened
in you; which can savor and delight in nothing, but that which is as God
is, pure, just and holy, and loathes whatever is contrary, and cannot
join to it in thought, word nor action; for this is the Life which
quickens you, if ever you feel it move and breath in you, and its
spiritual birth, which as it grows in the vessel, is to be Heir of the
heavenly treasure, which though at first it be weak as a child without
understanding or full strength; and you not knowing what way it is ever
like to come to have all the power and dominion in you, by reason of the
abundance of the corruption that is above in you, and the strong bonds
of iniquity that rules in your flesh, which all war against the
resurrection of this innocent Birth, and by which the strong man keeps
the house, with much subtlety and spiritual wickedness, against the pure
and simple life; yet if you do but abide in that which first gave you
light to the quickening of it, and be obedient thereto, it will bring
you a way you know not; and though you may come through great travails
and temptations, and many fiery trials and tribulations, where you may
be fitted and winnowed, yet shall not one grain of that pure Seed perish
and fail in the way, for that Spirit of light and truth will lead you in
His light and in His truth, which has been tried in that way for many
generations; for Christ Jesus, the light and salvation of ages, has
overcome the devil and the world, and all the power of darkness, for all
that are sanctified; and now is come to do it in you, that you may
inherit the purchased possession, and sit with Him in heavenly places
also: So that your work is faith and obedience, and patience towards Him
who is the Spirit and light in you; and to Him must you give up life and
all, who will confound your corrupted wisdom, and blind His adversary,
that He may give light to them that are yet under the shadow of death,
and build up in you the way of peace; and you shall no more live by your
works and gifts natural, but because He lives in you, shall you live
also; and your life will be that which is begotten of God which never
dies; and this will He do for as many as give up themselves wholly to
Him, whose light leads out of sin; this is the King of Saints, and
Holy-Life, if you will receive Him, He has the power of God.
But you that pray and profess, and seek
abroad, and cry for help, but know not Him who has help in His hands for
you, in Him alone wait, that in all things you might observe Him: You
worship you know not what, nor where; and while in words you talk of God
that lives, in works you deny Him, and give your strength to the dead,
and not to the living. Should not every man know his God lives in him,
and go to his own God for life, according to the manifestation of the
Spirit of truth given to profit withal in every creature to God-ward?
And this God that lives, which is just, holy and true, should you hear,
and know, and learn of, not of dead forms, but the power of the Spirit
of life, whose word gives life, to as many as have that ear open, to
hear the living Spirit, and can savor the living from the dead.
Now whatever you look to for life and
salvation, which is not in this Spirit and power, it's that which kills
and devours your strength to no purpose; for nothing gives life but the
Spirit, it's the pure Spirit that feeds the hungry soul with the Bread
of life; and to that you should give up all you have and are; in
hearkening and obeying spend your time, and all your strength to
increase in the life that's bread indeed. But when you give your
strength to customs and forms, and carnal rudiments, vain pleasures and
delights, and set your minds on these visible things, then you spend
your strength for that which is not bread, and labor for that which
profits not to life eternal, nor can carnal things give an entrance into
the most Holy; but in that which is pure should you wait, that He may
open to you the door of life; I am the door, the truth, and the life,
says Christ Jesus, who is not carnal, who is in you except you be
reprobates; and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
His.
Mind and consider well the Spirit of
Christ in you, that's He that's lowly in you, that's meek in you, that's
just and holy in you: mind this Spirit in you, and then where will you
run, and forsake the Lord of life? Will you leave Christ the Fountain
which should spring in you, and hunt for yourselves? Should you not
abide within, and drink of that which springs freely, and feed on that
which is pure, meek and lowly in spirit, that so you might grow
spiritual men into the same Spirit, to be as He is, the Sheep of His
pasture? For as is your pasture, so are you filled. High carnal minds
seek high carnal things, and so they grow lofty and proud, and such God
resists, and keeps them afar off; but the poor in spirit seek truth and
meekness, and are fed thereof at the table of the Lord; meek, and lowly
and just, and faithful are all His household, who feed and sup with Him.
Now mind and consider your ways, who are gone out unto the mountains to
worship and feed yourselves, you may read of Israel's sin in going out
from the temple, in which the Lord said He would dwell, and be inquired
of, and they built altars without Him, and there called upon Him, but
found Him not, for which He rejected their worships, and their temple
also. And where has Christ said He will now be worshipped? Is it not
within? For says Christ, The true worshippers worship the Father in
Spirit and in truth; mind it, professors, not at Jerusalem will He be
inquired of, but in Spirit and truth; and the body is the temple, as He
has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will put My law
in their inwards parts; and all shall know Me, from the least to the
greatest. Not in temples made with hands does the Godhead dwell, whose
off-spring we are; not in your high places and steeple-house churches,
but in that which springs of Him. Can you read this, and understand it
aright? In that which springs of Him is the Godhead and power known, but
the high-minded are too far off to feel it, it's the poor and lowly in
spirit that are near it, and he that is become as a little child can
only understand it, who is not too great in his thoughts to hearken to
that which is little and pure in him; by birth and nature that springs
of God, and not the height of that mind which has notions, but not the
nature, life and sonship, begotten and born of God. A sanctified life
and vessel is God's off-spring; but he that says and does not, is not
born of truth, but of fornication and falsehood: So read your birth, and
nature, and kindred, with the truth: It's not the uncircumcised in
heart, nor the bastard, that's God's off-spring and child of His love,
but the pure and clean in heart, mind and spirit, has His image. And if
you look to be godly, you must know this in you, else you are without
God in the world, having neither seen Him, nor known Him whom you seem
to worship, but are alienated from Him in your minds, and in your
members, and in your whole strength: So that you have neither power nor
understanding to do well, being taken captive of a contrary spirit in
all your abilities of spirit, soul, and body, your wisdom perverted, and
understandings darkened, and parted from the root, whose off-spring man
is.
And now this should be your return, to
sink down to that which is holy and pure in the light, and to that give
up your whole man, and all you are and have; and no more consult with
your wisdom, nor follow your own understanding, but let the little thing
in you that is pure and simple, lead you, and there to bow and bend and
confess; and this will be your restoration to God, to give all you have
to the Holy, who when He has befooled and cursed your wisdom, and
brought down your high conceits, and bound the strong man, and tied the
colt to the vine; then will He arise in power, who is meek and holy, and
rule in your strength, parts and wisdom, having purged the enmity out,
and renewed your abilities and you will have all restored again
manifold, all new, and clear, and able, by the power of the Holy One,
who will reign and govern therein; and you shall know the Lord, whose
off-spring you are; to be both root and head, and all in you. And you
shall say no more, I am weak and can do nothing, but all things through
Him that gives you strength: for the devourer shall no more pervert it,
but shall be the Holy One in the midst of you, if this you can believe
and receive: and you shall no more, as you have done, sow for the
devourer, nor bring forth unto blasting, but your fruits shall arise to
God, who will receive them with good will; and your prayers shall not
return empty, when He has bent you for Himself, and taken away the
accursed thing from among you. And then will you know the Lord's
redeemed, and that Seed which is elected and blessed, which brings not
forth as other men, and you will see that all who despise the day of
small things, neglect their own mercy (to follow the teacher of lies)
who turn not at His reproof, who is holy, and therefore worship without
power.
Then will you know the life and power of
redemption, and sanctification, and justification, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost in you, when your strength is redeemed to God, your wisdom
redeemed, your hearts, tongues, eyes and ears, and all you have redeemed
to God, into that which is holy, to be guided and exercised in all your
conversation, possessing your vessels in sanctification. Here is that
renewing of the Holy Ghost known, which sanctifies and justifies through
the redemption of the body and mind, and reconciliation which is in
Christ Jesus, who is not known to be Lord but by the Holy Ghost; that
Spirit of truth which leads into all truth: which truth is a witness in
you, against you, who say you are redeemed to God by Christ Jesus, when
another lord rules in you, and leads you captive into sin, by which
Christ Jesus is denied and suffers in you, and by which you are
separated from God, and in a nature contrary to Him: Wherefore to that
you must come that changes your nature, and not your words, and forms,
and teachers only, but which begats another Seed, and kills that which
is begotten of whoredom and lust, which is after the prince of this
world; that God may be served in His own Spirit, in His own truth, of
His own nature, of His own begetting, holy as He is holy in every
measure and growth thereof; that so the least of His children may be
known to be of Him, and separate from the world, in soul and in body,
coming out of the world, bearing His image and reproach.
And as many as honestly desire to be
heirs of this holy power and kingdom, patiently wait till you feel that
move in you which is of that pure nature, and having felt it alive in
you, rejoice in it with hope and faith, and keep therein, and be not
discouraged, because of the littleness of it in your present sight,
neither do you judge and measure it thereby; for you know not what power
it has with God, and how precious it is in His sight; and what it will
obtain for you at His hands in the time of need, you have not yet
proved, nor can you, while you have things greater in your thoughts than
it to run to: The power of holiness and truth in the inward parts is not
known but in the depth, when the fire of wrath comes upon all vain hopes
and hypocritical confidence, when all that is without a man is removed
far away; when all friends and acquaintance are become farther off than
strangers, and whatever thing the creature seeks to for comfort, turns
against him, and adds to his grief; then is known the power of holiness
and truth in heart with God, and a clean conscience will speak peace;
and none can take it away from you, if you abide but in it: He that has
proved it commends it to you, who has been stripped of all, that you
might learn and know the treasure of life, and holiness with God.
Wherefore judge not that which is holier and lower than yourselves, but
let that which is just and holy, judge that which is above it in you,
which is not of that nature.
The cause why it is so little esteemed
in you, is, because you are so great in the contrary nature; and the
proud despises the poor, and the rich undervalues him that is better
than himself. And this you will find in you, if you measure with that
which God esteems and weighs all flesh by (to wit) By that which is His
own, and as He is in every creature; so do not you judge the most Holy,
but believe and obey; for the time for you to judge is not yet come,
till the most Holy and Just King appear to be King in you, and you in
Him. So keep in that which is holy and just, and grow in Him, that He
may rule in you, and arise through the death of His enemies, to be
greater than the greatest, greater than the world, and the prince of it,
which is the devil, wherein is all unbelief, false fears and doubting,
and exaltation against the Holy One; and as these towers fall which are
lifted up against the Lord; so His way will become plain, and Truth will
take His place in you as King and Lord, which God loves, which the
unbelief is out of and against; and as the Pure arises, you will find a
change in your mind, in your nature, in your judgment, and in your
government, and you will come to know that your kingdom and power with
the Highest stands in the Anointing of the most Holy, and the kingdom of
God is within you, and the poor take it.
So you must not fix your faith on that
which seems strong and great in you, because it is so, nor because it is
likely, nor because it promises great things; but believe in that which
is most holy, true and just in you, that to the Anointing of the most
Holy you may come in your particular, and He will bring you into the
assembly of the Sanctified, where the Holy One reigns over all, for it's
He that is sent into the world that is in wickedness, to gather them one
by one into sanctification, therein to present to God as many as receive
Him, who is without spot or blemish.
And all the world take notice of this,
wherever it comes; this is He whom the Father of lights has now sent
into you that are in the world, the Holy One of God, sent to call you
and give you light, who says, I am the light of the world: hear Him, and
believe, that you may become children of light and truth. This is the
glad tidings and Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is preached to you in the
world. Professions and forms, would limit the Holy One to themselves,
and exclude others; but God's gift is free in Christ Jesus, and His
tender is to all men, who would have all men to be saved, and come to
the knowledge of the truth; none He excludes, but who will not receive
His gift, His Son, the most Holy which calls you, who through the
preaching of the Gospel is come near you; yea, He is in you with His
light, giving you to see the way out of darkness, which no other could
do for you; and without money or price you have Him: If you receive Him,
and keep His sayings, and obey His movings, He will dwell in you, and
take up His abode, and you shall know that the Father has sent Him to
call you out of the world into the light of life. If you deny Him, He
will deny you; if you receive Him, the Father will love you, and power
from above will be given to become the sons of God. Wherefore mind that
Spirit which calls you out of sin, out of the world, and gives you light
to see what sin is and deceit in your own hearts; hearken to that which
is holy, and would not have you do evil, that's of the Holy One, and the
most High in you, believe in Him, and follow Him; believe not them who
would make you believe you have Him not in you, who are past feeling in
themselves, and have already rejected Him: but you who feel Him, abide
in Him, who is holy in you, against all unholiness a Witness: cut not
yourselves off through disobedience and unbelief, and He will in no wise
cast you out, but will increase your light through obedience, and purify
your souls, and cleanse your bodies, and work in you mightily in truth
to salvation; and you shall see that His working is pure and good, and
that which none else can do for you. And this is the Lord your
righteousness, though yet you know Him not as He is.
And if you will receive the most Holy,
this is your time, and the day of your visitation by Him, whose light is
now rejected of the builders of this world, and the wisdom of the wise
will not know Him, nor suffer Him to rule above the carnal rudiments;
nor to be all in their hearts, to guide with His light and salvation. So
to the outcasts He is preached, who are afar off, and have not sought
Him, you is He seeking with Hs light, if you reject Him not, He will
make you to see light who have sat in the region of death, and gross
darkness has covered you. Wherefore hearken to Him that says Come, and
feel that Spirit that draws, that you may answer His love freely, as it
is freely tendered; and know Him by His holiness, that it is He, and let
His unchangeable Witness in you, in the night and in the day, persuade
your hearts that He is the Lord who changes not; and He that declares to
man his thoughts, His name is the Lord of hosts. And you that withstand
His appearance in Spirit, and tell people that this is not to preach
Christ, and yet profess Christ in you, tell me what Christ is in people,
if not Light and Holy Life, and a Faithful Witness against the contrary
in all whom He lives? And by what other thing may He be known in Spirit,
life and power, if this be denied? Else let the mouth of anti-christ be
stopped, that the simple may pass on the right and living way, free from
such who will neither enter the kingdom themselves, nor would suffer
others, who have always resisted the Holy Ghost.
The fruit of
the free-born cleared from legal performances, and the children of
bondage shown the nature of their own works.
Children of this world, who have the
form but not the power of godliness, and have got notions of life, but
not the Nature and Spirit thereof, in your dark thoughts from an
unfruitful spirit you judge the children of light; and when you see us
acting in the life of Christ Jesus, then you say we are under legal
performances, and that we think to be saved by our works, and that we do
it to merit, and the like; but you are greatly mistaken in yourselves,
and are not in that Spirit which does see us, or can judge the nature of
our works, nor our end therein; wherefore be silent, and hear what is
said to you, if you have a ear to hear with: For though yourselves be
dead, withered branches, cut off from the tree which is good by nature,
and there abide, yet it is not so with such as are born again and
ingrafted into the good olive tree; for he that is really born of God,
knows two several seeds and natures, which spring and bring forth from
several roots, and after their several kinds.
Now the one of these is in bondage with
its branches, and brings forth to self, from some outward observation,
or literal command, or something that is carnal or visible sets on work:
And being thus set on work, to do things contrary to your life and
nature, you go hardly through it; and if you attain the outward
performance, the boaster gets up to glory in what you can do, who does
all for self-ends, and so look for reward above such as you think cannot
do as you have done. Now you have gone no further, but wearied
yourselves herein, and found nothing, but bondage, are turned back into
liberty again; and you judge as you have found in yourselves; so you say
all good works are from the spirit of bondage, boasting about merit, and
the like.
But you should not judge the children of
light after the flesh, your measure will not reach that Birth, for he
that’s born of God, is a branch of another Root and Seed than you
know, which has another nature inclining to God from whence it is, as
the other inclines to the world, whence it is. And as the natural man
does evil naturally, his root and life being so; so the spiritual man
(in his measure) does good naturally, after his Root and Life, which is
his pleasure and joy to bring forth from the good Root, that which is
good by nature; as it is the delight of the other, to bring forth that
which is evil by nature: For as is the heavenly, such are they that are
heavenly; and it’s no bondage for the heavenly to bear heavenly
fruits, but to the earthly man it is, being against his nature:
wherefore Christ says, Either make the tree good and his fruits good, or
the tree evil, and his fruits evil. So good trees, evil trees and
fruitless trees, are known to be of several natures, and for several
ends.
So this is but your own darkness that
thus thinks, and with evil thoughts you judge amiss. Will you say of
such as are really planted into the living Vine, that their fruits,
which freely flow from there, are legal and bondage, and that we think
to be saved by our works, and by our own righteousness, &c.? Nay
these are the fruits of such who are saved already; and the
righteousness of God is given to us who are ceased from our own works,
whose works are no more legal, but spiritual, free, and not bondage; and
he that is in Christ is fruitful in good works, and free therein by
birth; and he that abides in Christ sins not, nor is his seed of the
evil-doer. Could you understand this, you would not condemn the fruits
of the living, with such as are dead while they live, whose fruit is
withered, being broken off from that which is good by nature, and
planted into that which is wild by nature; but the spiritual man you
cannot judge, his fruits nor freedom, his off-spring nor his end, whose
fruits judge all fruitless trees, yet is he judged of no man, and it’s
as hard for you to do good, who are accustomed to do evil, as the
Leopard to change his spots; but it is otherwise with such as are
changed already, born of the light, and heirs by birth, and right
nature, to everlasting righteousness and truth; it’s hard for such to
do evil, being against nature, seed and sonship which is in God. And
though this you cannot believe, yet he that’s born of faith can, and
the least child of God can read it in his measure, who knows the old
Adam and the new; and as in the first all are in sin and bondage, so in
the second are all made righteous and free to do God’s work; and in
the second is known the new creation, wherein dwells righteousness, as
God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them: And will you call
this self-righteousness where all things are of God, and it’s God that
works in us of His good pleasure to will and to do; and this is not the
spirit of bondage, but good will and pleasure which God works freely in
us. So you reproach what God works by the hearing of faith, and not by
the letter, which righteousness wrought in Abraham, which was in God
before Abraham was, which is wrought from everlasting, and elect of God
in Christ Jesus before the world was, and is a free gift to all that by
Abraham’s faith come out of the world, to Him that is not of the
world; which you that abide in the world inherit not, who are in self;
and seeking yourselves in what you do to God or men, How can you
believe, says Christ? And you that look for rewards, are not in that
Spirit which works freely. So you look for rewards and honor; teachers
and people are all for rewards, honor and respect of persons; and in
that nature is all the bondage, pretended merits and rewards, in this
nature out of the faith of Christ Jesus, who went from place to place
doing good freely, and preaching freely; and so will all do who are born
to true freedom, as He is free, whose life you speak of, but know it not
by birth and virtue, which is naturally good, as the first (or fallen)
man, is naturally evil.
And the bondage is in that which is
against the pure nature, and not that which is free-born, and the law is
upon the transgressor, and him that is degenerated into that nature
which is carnal and sensual; and if this man do anything as to God, it
is from something that is laid upon him, not in Spirit, but from
without; and this is legal and in bondage, which is not in the free
Spirit, which does by nature the things contained in the law.
And little it is that such would either
do or know were there not a law or letter, a heaven or a hell to put
them upon works. And here is the bondage and fear that has torment; but
with the spiritual seed it is not so, who are begotten and born of God
in Christ Jesus, in whom they receive freely as the branch of the root,
and what He sends forth through them are fruits of the Spirit, against
which there is no law, and this is not legal, but spiritual and free,
who are a law unto themselves; and there is no law against the Seed, but
it is added upon the transgressor because of sin, till the Seed be come;
And where the Seed is born and rules, that creature is not under the
law, letter nor tradition, nor bondage, but led by the Spirit, and born
of that nature which was before transgression was, by which the fruits
of righteousness are brought to light, by the working of the Holy Ghost,
who works the will and deed of His good pleasure; and with the same good
will and pleasure it is brought forth without bondage or constraint.
And in whom the bonds of iniquity are
broken, the evil world ended, and all things become new, and all things
of God, there dwells not self-righteousness, nor spirit of bondage; but
that is the new creature, which is in Christ Jesus created unto good
works, and not in self; and the heavens new, and the earth new, wherein
dwells righteousness, as it is in Christ Jesus, revealed from God in
Spirit and power, without the law manifest, to which the law and the
prophets bear witness, having foretold what glory and freedom should be
revealed in the latter days at the Seed’s appearing; and the holy
Scriptures testify of this life and power, but is not this life, but the
Spirit gives this life and freedom, that it may be of grace freely, and
the glory of the Lord, who is that Spirit. And here is the boaster and
self excluded, and all fruitless trees condemned, and seen to come short
of the glory of God, of whose works he is not either root or off-spring.
And in whom the bonds of iniquity are
broken, the evil world ended, and all things become new, and all things
of God, there dwells not self-righteousness, nor spirit of bondage; but
that is the new creature, which is in Christ Jesus created unto good
works, and not in self; and the heavens new, and the earth new, wherein
dwells righteousness, as it is in Christ Jesus, revealed from God in
Spirit and power, without the law manifest, to which the law and the
prophets bear witness, having foretold what glory and freedom should be
revealed in the latter days at the Seed’s appearing; and the holy
Scriptures testify of this life and power, but is not this life, but the
Spirit gives this life and freedom, that it may be of grace freely, and
the glory of the Lord, who is that Spirit. And here is the boaster and
self excluded, and all fruitless trees condemned, and seen to come short
of the glory of God, of whose works he is not either root or off-spring.
And before you can judge of this
freedom, or the nature of the works that spring thereof, or inherit the
power that brings forth this righteousness, you must own the judgment of
Him that condemns the man of sin in you, and receive Him for your
Lawgiver, which will break you off from the world, and would have you to
deny the forms and images, and bring you from under its power; that's He
that breaks the house of bondage, and sets the righteous at liberty, to
bear the fruits which are of God.
And thus has Christ sent His servants to
seek the lost, and to gather them from among briars and thorns, and
bring them to Zion one by one. And as they were gained out of sin, so
the devil's kingdom fell, and grew weaker by every servant he lost, and
Christ's kingdom increased, until the kingdoms of this world become the
kingdom of righteousness, wherein the righteous King reigns. And out of
cruel mockings, scorning and bloody persecutions, they gathered the
lost, and gained them to God; yea, sometimes pulled them out of the
fire, such have been their faith and zeal for Christ, and His holy
kingdom, and their steadfastness to that work to which they were called
and hired; and the fury of the adversary, and his opposite power against
Him and His servants, has often reached unto blood, rendering evil for
love to their souls.
Wherefore take heed to yourselves, you
that name the Lord, and call Him Master; depart from iniquity, and obey
the good. This is His work; if you be His servants, He has called you to
holiness, as He is holy; and that you turn from the world, and repent of
his works who is prince of it, and deny him and them openly and in
secret. If you will serve the Holy One, you must bear His mark, and open
your heart to Him, and your mouth for Him, as confidently as the
servants of sin do for it, that your light might shine against the
darkness of this world, in the face of the perverse and crooked
generation; that it may appear to all men, that the ways of the Lord and
the world are not one, nor their servants one, nor their words one, nor
their garments one, nor their table one; in all things bearing His image
and glory above His adversary; that it may appear whose family you
belong to, and what is His glory who has hired you, and what is the work
of your Lord in the world.
And herein may all people, as in a
glass, see yourselves, and what you are to God in this His day, and what
against Him. These are the two masters, which Christ tells of, which
none can serve, but the one he hates who serves the other: So now, who
has hired you? Whom do you serve, and who do you hate? Is it the world
you serve? Then you hate Christ: Is it Christ? Then you deny the world.
And these are plain things; and you may read as you go, if you will,
whose business you go about, and whose hand you strengthen. If you
commit sin, and plead for it, then you war against Him that is manifest
to destroy sin: And if you say, sin must live in you while you live,
then while you live the devil must have a place and power in you, and a
kingdom as long as you live; and if you believe to overcome sin, then
you wait for the kingdom of God, which consists in righteousness, and
believe to see it, and seek it daily with your whole heart; for it is
not words which take the kingdom, but power of faith against the evil
one.
Neither is it forms and professions, or
any outward thing that can vanquish the devil; for he is a spirit, and
by a spiritual power must he be resisted; and the weapons must be
spiritual and mighty through God, which casts down his seat in man;
though many are led out from form to form, and deny that power of God in
them, and obey the power of sin in them; not knowing that power which
lays the ax to the root of the evil tree, out of which all the evil
springs; and these are manifest to be such as are not hired: Whatever
your forms may be, which you choose and change, you are but in the
market-place at the best, not yet come into the vineyard of God, till
you be set on work against sin, to pluck up and cut down every evil
thing that offends in the kingdom of God, with His spiritual light and
power; which kingdom is within you; and that which offends is within
you, and that which is offended is within, and that which is lost is
within, and there to be sought; and the Pearl, and the Seed, and the
Word, and the Law of the Spirit of Life, and the covenant is within; and
this is not seen nor believed, nor can it shine forth till the house of
God be swept, and the fruit of darkness denied, and the light of Christ
turned to, and the Just obeyed, which gives to see the unjust, and power
against him, when the ground of darkness is removed by the working of
faith.
And as many as be called to this work,
and entered into it in truth and faith, must not be idle, but obey the
Spirit of life; till the house be cleansed, and the unclean wrought out,
and the pure exalted, and then is the rest holy; and then you will find
your rest within you, and your God near you, and your souls to dwell at
ease with God in your own habitation, whose temples you are, if this you
obtain by faith in Him that calls and quickens to holiness; and the
fruit is the Lord's, and so is the Seed, and the safety forever, to all,
and in all that abide therein.
And this is not self-works, nor
self-will, but pure faith and obedience to the Seed (or living Word) of
God, (which in you wars against the world, and every selfish fleshly
lust and delight,) which is the Seed of the holy covenant, which Seed is
Christ, the holy and just One, if you can receive it. This is He that
makes clean and keeps you so, as many as obey and walk in Him, and from
His Spirit receive your law, which Spirit gives you His life to inherit
here on earth; if you walk in the Spirit, you shall not live to the
flesh. And in this life and knowledge truly learned, is answered that
common objection which the spirit of the world makes against the holy
life and kingdom, saying, If it were possible that we could live without
sin, then we need no Savior, yea the same that cleanses the house must
keep it so; and He that's the death of sin, is the life of
righteousness, and the same light and fear of God which leads to the
putting off the old man with his affections and evil works, leads to put
on the new man (and so to walk in Christ) which is renewed after the
image of Him that created him, where Christ is all in life and guiding;
and the good man keeps the house, not the strong man; and how can that
man say he needs no Savior, who can do nothing without Him, whose
righteous life is both food and raiment, and His light their armor
daily, against the evil in this world in every thought, word and work?
And in whom this is not so, Christ is not all; and in whom it is so,
they are complete in Him, and do not say they have no need of Him, but
confess Him in them their Head and glory; and this is the kingdom of God
upon earth, and the King in His kingdom, which you that resist in your
faith and practice, deny the Lord, and His power, and His faith, and His
prayer, which is, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is
in heaven, where no sin is.
And this further, to all you that in
words profess Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Master; let it be in
truth and righteousness, that you may have His witness thereto, who is
pure and clean, and cannot join to evil, but is an open witness against
every appearance of it; and so are all His servants, whom He has hired
and sent into the world; in what place or employment so ever you are in,
if you be His servants, you are chiefly about His work, not your own.
Now His work is manifest in every appearance of His in this world; it is
against sin, and to destroy the works of the devil out of this world,
that so the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms of Christ
Jesus, and the most holy One may rule and bring forth fruits therein.
Now His servants are known by this, that they stand for the kingdom of
Christ in this world, and His works, and against all the works of the
devil in this world, that Christ may destroy and bring down, and make an
end of sin in this world; and the servants of the devil are known in the
contrary, by being in his work, which is to keep sin in this world while
people live, and this is the strength of his kingdom; take away sin, and
take away his kingdom here, and his power here, and his place here; for
where he is resisted he flees, but where he is received he sets up his
throne, and takes pleasure in his servants, and they in his works, which
is to increase deceit and vanity in them, and to fill their hearts with
every lust; and so strongly carrying out their hearts thereunto, that
they have no delight in that which is contrary, nor can believe that
ever any can receive power in the Spirit of Christ against him, or such
redemption as to overcome him, and be freed from him in all his works in
this world: And here is an agreement with death in your faith, and a
covenant confessed with unrighteousness.
And you that are in this mind and
belief, you are not hired of Christ Jesus the righteous, nor have you
received His faith, which is pure, as He is pure; and believes unto
righteousness, and unto victory, and not unto sin: and that's His faith,
which overcomes the world, and the prince of it, and resists the devil,
steadfast in the faith, in hope of victory in the end; and this faith
Christ's servants confess openly, which faith the world cannot receive,
but confess the contrary openly; and so you are kept captive at his
will, and you believe you must be his servants while you live here in
this world: And this faith you confess openly against the victory of
Christ; and herein you are faithful to your own master whose works you
do, and plead for, and confess his faith, which none of the servants of
Christ ever confessed such a faith, that they must needs serve sin as
long as they live; for the youngest and weakest servants of Jesus
Christ, that know themselves hired of Him, they know His work is to
destroy sin out of the world, and to subdue the devil, and to this work
they are set in themselves, by faith and power, which is in Christ Jesus
the Lord, and they labor in hope, having their hearts turned in them,
and their faces set towards holiness, and from the world, and are set on
their way out of the world, which is Christ the life that's holy, and
light that's pure; and to this the mind is kept in all their travels and
tribulations, and temptations, which work in them by faith in Christ,
more hope, and more strength daily; and every trial that happens to them
in the way, gives experience and renewed strength against their
adversary the devil, while they keep close to Christ in faith and love;
and though they feel the devil in the sensual part to be strong and
powerful, and past their strength at present, yet they yield him not the
kingdom for that, but into the faith and hope and patience of Christ
Jesus they sink down, waiting for the resurrection of that Life which
never sinned, but was oppressed and grieved when sin took His kingdom,
and there wait for the appearance of Christ without sin to save them
from that power of death which was in their own members, to bring forth
sin in this world; and this is to be true in their service, and
faithful, who wait for the kingdom of God within them, and righteousness
thereof, and the coming of their Lord, with their minds girt with
holiness, and hearts steadfast, not to consent to the least work of the
devil, if it would gain the whole world in the appearance of the sensual
reason and wisdom.
And if these be overtaken with a fault,
it is not willingly, but as servants of Christ they stand against it to
the utmost they then see; and sin being a work of the wrong master, they
abhor it, and themselves for it, and deny it, and will not plead for it,
or seek to hide it in them, but confess it, and cannot have peace till
it be cleansed out; and these are the little children who have an
Advocate with the Father, to whom sin is as death, and dare not speak a
word for it, but against it in themselves and in others, and these
appear against sin openly, and confess to Him that is holy, with all
their hearts and words.
But what a difference is there between
one of these, who when they either see it, or are told of their offence
against the Lord, are broken before the least reproof, into tears or
sorrow, condemning themselves for it, and it in themselves openly; and
you, who when you are reproved for sin, which is both open and known,
you set yourselves with all your strength and wisdom to plead for it,
and like the devil, bring the letter to strengthen yourselves against
just reproof, and with hearts full of envy, and mouths full of reproach,
you stand up, seeking to ensnare them that reprove you, in love to
Christ's kingdom, and your souls, and to recover you out of the works of
satan, that his kingdom might fall in you, and so he have fewer subjects
left in his power, and you be added unto the kingdom of Christ, by being
brought under His commands, through denying your old master, and
confessing and condemning his evil works; for a denying of the devil and
his works there must be, e're Christ will receive you.
And thus it is that Christ has taken His
kingdom out of the hand of His adversary in the world, by sending His
servants into the high-ways and hedges to gather His creatures out of
the devil's works, by true reproof, and testifying against them wherever
He led them, for which they were torn and scratched, and evil entreated
by that evil spirit in whom it had power, as you now do, who rise up
against reproof.
Christ Jesus
known to be King in His Temples, through the power of the Holy Ghost,
and sword of the Spirit, lifted up against the man of sin in true
judgment.
You who look for the kingdom of Christ
Jesus; It stands not in observations, words and forms, but in the power
of the Holy Ghost, in judgment, in truth and righteousness; If you would
know His appearance to salvation, wait for it without sin, in that
Spirit and power which is holy, to judge and condemn sin; this is His
kingdom with men, if you can receive it, that He be known in His
spiritual power in the bodies of holy men and women, to dwell and walk
in a holy life, a witness against all sin by the breath of His mouth and
sword of His Spirit; and therein that He has power and consent to judge
all contrary spirits within and without, and all contrary actions; And
whatever opposes Him in this His kingdom is antichrist, which denies
Christ in His temples and house, whose house and temple is the new
creation of holy men and women, and in whom He speaks, dwells and walks,
as says the Scriptures; in whom He judges the prince of this world, and
all his out-goings in the children of darkness, and in His own temples
shows forth His nature and virtue a witness against him and all his
works; and he that would let [stop] this, is antichrist, who sits in the
temple of Christ to resist the Holy One, and cannot receive the
judgments of Christ against sin in His temples, nor His witness against
sin to salvation, but cries, do not judge, when truth speaks, and the
Spirit of Christ testifies against sin in true judgment; and this is he
that lets and withstands the coming of Christ without sin, who
withstands Him in His temple, and denies His righteous judgment against
sin, and blasphemes, and says it is not He; nor is He now on earth, nor
speaks in anybody now against sin, but says, You must not judge, lest
you be judged; and so through deceit would turn Christ's words against
His work, who says, I will redeem Zion with judgment; and Christ did not
speak those words to save sin from judgment, when He said, Judge not,
that you be not judged, nor to stop the mouth of truth and
righteousness; for then He had contradicted Himself, who in another
place commands them to judge righteous judgment? And He is manifest to
destroy sin, and not to save sin, in whomsoever He is manifest; and for
this end He lives in His people, which antichrist would make as though
He lived not, nor heard or spoke, but as a dumb idol would he make the
living God, for people to talk on, or set up a form of Him, so make void
His present life and spiritual power in His people, that He should not
show forth His virtue, and give forth His laws and judgments by the
mouth of His servants, against the works of His adversary, wherever they
appear in his eye.
Therefore you professors of Christ in
words and forms, seek His kingdom in you, and take heed that your forms
withstand not His powerful appearance in Spirit; His kingly authority
stands in His heavenly holy nature and virtue in Spirit, and not in
perishing rudiments and shadows without. Read in Scriptures how often
antichrist has deceived people, by turning these outward forms, to let
the spiritual power, and so have kept people in words without life,
opposing Christ in His kingdom: So in the first place mind to know His
spiritual nature and virtue, and what has power against sin, in word and
in deed, therein is His kingdom, and there is His glory, and therein He
reigns.
So take heed how you let [stop] that
Spirit, which goes out against sin in judgment and in victory, in the
least of His people; and this know, that His kingdom is spiritual and
within, and holy, and there are His testimonies, laws and judgments,
which He sends out by the mouths of His servants as He sees fit; and
it’s against the works of the evil one He resists in judgment and
virtue, for that is His nature, and to that end He appears on earth to
destroy the devil and his works, through the sword of His Spirit; and
none will let [stop] this but antichrist and his servants, whose works
are evil, and so would stop the mouth of truth, and voice of Christ.
So you may come to know His voice from
His temple, when you hear judgment from the Spirit of truth passing
against pride, and lust, and all the works of the flesh, and to destroy
them out of the world; this is His voice from His temples in which His
throne is, His holy kingdom and power, and that’s the voice of
antichrist who would let [stop] this, and says, you must not judge when
sin is judged, and so with the words of Christ would save the works of
the devil from shame and destruction: And now there be many antichrists
in this work to withstand the word of God in His temples, and who set
the letter against the Spirit to keep up sin, and to silence the word of
the Holy Ghost that comes out of His house against it: And here are the
children of the holy God known, and the children of this world; the one
seeks to cut down sin, the other to save it; and both profess Christ in
words, but the end of their work makes them manifest.
And you that are talking of Christ’s
appearance, where will you allow Him a place to rule in, if not in the
heart and chief place in man, therein to judge and govern, and speak,
and give out His laws? Will you allow the evil one to utter his voice
openly in man, in swearing, lying, and cursed speaking, and every evil
work, and must Christ be silent and dumb thereat in His vessels when He
sees it? Is not this His privilege in His redeemed ones, as the other
has his power in his captives, that in them He may judge sin as openly,
as in the other it is acted? And this is the reasonable service of His
chosen vessels, to give up their bodies that He may speak and act, and
show forth His virtues and life, and power therein, against the spirit
of the world, in His vessels, and were it not for this, none of the holy
men of God need to have suffered nor been hated, but for the words of
God spoken by them, as Christ has said, It is not you that speak, but
the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you; and this is the voice
which the world knows not, and so would stop it, and says it is not the
Lord, nor knowing that justice and judgment are the habitation of His
throne in the hearts and mouths of His people. What! Must not the Spirit
of truth in whom He lives, judge deceit and falsehood where it lives?
Must not that which is holy judge the unclean? Must not the lowly one
judge the proud, the chaste one judge the lust? Must not he that is
spiritual judge all things? Must not Saints judge the world? What a
nation would you have this to be who would root out judgment, and yet
profess Christ in you? Is Christ in that people where there is no
judgment against sin? What, none to judge pride and excess, lying,
swearing, and cursed speaking, false ways and false worships? Would you
have all sin to pass openly without reproof? Is the land wholly become
as Sodom? Mind what was their words to Lot in this case; This one fellow
came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge; whose righteous soul
was vexed daily with their unclean conversation. So would you have sin
to go openly in the streets without reproof and shame? Where is the Holy
One? In whom does He dwell, who is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity? Is Christ a King? Is He a judge? Is He pure and clean in
heart? Does He live? Can He see sin and be silent, where He has a mouth
to speak by? Did He ever take up His abode in people where none would
allow Him a habitation and a mouth to speak by? Mind His walking
aforetime in His servants, and what He did and spoke in them, and
against what: And is He not still a God of judgment at hand against His
adversary, though such as know not His voice put Him afar off?
So you who say you are for Christ and
His kingdom, mind whose kingdom sin is in, and whose work it is to
defend it from judgment, and mistake Scripture to plead for it; that is
he which condemns the Just, who would clear the guilty; and that is
abomination to God, and withstands His appearance; and you that yield
your members thereto, are not for Christ, but against Him in His
members, who have yielded themselves servants of truth; and such as you,
were they who slew the Just One, His Prophets and Apostles (in whom the
Word of God spoke against sin) yet they had the Scriptures, and served
sin.
Wherefore if you love the appearance of
Christ Jesus, you must not love sin, but in that principle which would
not sin, feel Him that suffers because of sin, and yet is without sin,
and against sin; and if to Him you come, whose appearance is in that
which is holy, just, and true, and therein join to Him, you will love
that which condemns sin, by which He is grieved and oppressed; and then
are you for Christ, when you can feel and suffer with Him, by that which
He suffers; and you will then see that nought is it that is offended at
sin being judged, but he that is guilty thereof.
The grace of God is that which brings
salvation to man, all men being in darkness, as they are in the world
without God; so the grace of God is tendered to all without respect of
persons; And that’s it in every man which gives him a sight of truth
in himself, which God accepts in every man, who would have all men come
to the knowledge thereof, that they might be saved. Now this grace of
God is one in every man, and does not spare the evil, nor deny the good
in any, out of respect of persons, wisdom, strength or riches which are
of this world, but has respect to the truth of Spirit in all, and their
obedience thereto; therein to teach and lead to salvation, and the true
worship of God in Spirit, which leads to life eternal, and to the
strengthening that which is of God's begetting in man, and quickening
the soul which by sin has suffered; and this it does by condemning sin
in every motion, that it may never arise against the holy Seed, and also
by ministering comforts and promises, and power in Spirit to the soul in
the way of its rising above the power of the son of wickedness, still
ministering light and understanding in the hidden part of the soul that
hates sin, opening that eye daily through the obedience of truth, which
the god of this world has blinded, and purifying the soul by putting off
the body of corruption, and blinding him that says he sees, but knows
not the way out of sin, ministering the law upon him.
And this is the ministration of free
grace to every soul that receives it; and this it works powerfully in
all that abide in it, through the Spirit of Christ Jesus; and this grace
(as says the Scripture) has appeared to all men; yea, and does daily
appear in all who truly wait in Spirit for its appearance, and gives to
all such a sight of truth in themselves, testifying with or against
every motion in their hearts, according as it stands in the sight of
God, whether it be good or evil, whereby the conscience does accuse or
excuse, even as God shall judge them by Christ Jesus: So that there is
no cause in this grace, why any are not saved thereby from sin and
condemnation, but being rejected of some, it becomes their condemnation;
and the same grace which saves him that receives it in faith and
obedience, condemns him that rejects it in his disobedience: And this is
the grace of God that changes not, which appears to all men, but only
reigns to salvation through righteousness, wherein it is believed to be
sufficient and obeyed, in the truth therewith made manifest.
So that is the grace of God, which is of
God in man, ministering in Spirit light to the soul in the midst of
darkness, ministering life to that which is dead in sin, leading man
through the vail of death up to God, from whom the grace has appeared,
and of whom it is; and the light thereof is judgment, and discerning in
everyone that receives it to be led with it in judgment, and
condemnation to such as turn it into lasciviousness, denying the life
thereof, and the truth that leads thereto, and so cannot be saved
through it; but he that receives it, and joins to it in Spirit, becomes
one with it, and by his daily sinking into it in counsel, grows in him,
and he in it, until it becomes a habitation and cover for him against
all evil, and so he becomes gracious in words and works, daily receiving
of Christ's fullness grace for grace.
And he that has received of this grace,
and is faithful therein, cannot minister of it to strengthen the
transgressor, who loves his sin, (and so is under the law) nor cast the
pearls before swine; but to such as are heavy laden and weary of sin, to
encourage them against sin and temptations, which all that turn from the
devil must expect to meet with; and judgment it ministers to the wicked,
that therewith he may know his condemnation with the light of truth,
which is their condemnation in whom grace is denied to reign, He being
come into the world who is full of grace and truth; but the kingdom of
grace is salvation to them in whom it reigns through righteousness unto
eternal life, by Jesus Christ the Lord.
So he that receives the teaching of
grace, comes therein to the leading of the Spirit, and so becomes free
from sin, is no more under the law, but under grace; but the law has
power over him that walks after the flesh, and every appearance of grace
is witness against him, by declaring him to be under the law of sin and
death, and not in covenant with Him that appears against sin in the
power of grace and truth, which is Christ Jesus the Lord.
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